Deathbed Visions

Deathbed Visions are the visions or anomalous experiences that a dying person may have in the moments before his or hear death. They are paranormal experiences of the dying. Family members and hospital personnel have often reported that a dying person, previously weak, disabled, comatose, or invalid, were suddenly revived, and showed the signs of them seeing things.

In other instances, dying people have described seeing or hearing other people who are not physicall present, and are usually deceased. In some rare cases, bystanders have had such visions simultaneously with the dying person. In addition to this, deathbed visions have also been accompanied by odd events in the environment immediately around the dying person. For example, clocks stop working, paintings fall off the wall, or strong gusts of wind inside the room. While these may seem to be ideal movie deaths, which we are so familiar with, they occur in real life much more than we know.

It is to be noted that Deathbed Visions are not the same as Near Death Experience (NDE). NDEs occur to people who have suffered an injury or an illness and have recovered to talk about it.

Characteristics


Much lore exists about this as well. The ancient Greeks believed that a dying man acquired prophetic powers, the Aborigines believe that a person gains clairvoyancy, and the tradition in some tribes is to cross-examine a person on various topics while he is dying.

In most cases, the dying person has an awareness of the presence of dead relatives or friends. These deceased persons who visit the dying, are said to visit at the time near death, to help the sick person 'cross over to the other side'. These figures are called 'take-away apparitions' because their apparent purpose is to summon or escort the dying to the afterworld. There have been documented cases where the person who is dying has actually seen someone on their deathbed, that they could not have possibly known had already died before them. This tends to add some weight (and mystery) to the phenomena.

People that are with the dying sometimes, through rarely, report perceiving the take-away apparition, which is sensed as an unusual light or energy in the room. At times an energy cloud may appear over the dying, and in fewer instances, may assume the shape and appearance of the dying, connected to the body by a silvery cord. At death when this cord is severed, the astral shape dissipates.

It is recorded that deathbed visions have common characteristics regardless of racial, cultural, religious, educational, age, and socioeconomic lines, such as radiant lights, scenes of great beauty, beings of light, and feelings of great peace. Most of these visions are apparitions of light beings that may be dead persons known to the dying, or great religious or mythical figures, such as the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and so on. Generally their appearance elicits a response of joy, peace, happiness, and cessation of pain, but a small number of individuals have reacted with fear and denial.

In one-third of the visions reported, the dying beheld (or saw when transported out of their body) a preview of the afterworld. Other visions include great architectural structures, and symbolic transitional figures such as gates, bridges, rivers, and boats. The afterworld scenes are populated with angels or spirits of the dead. In a small number of instances celestial music may permeate the vision. The typical colors seen are vivid. Rarely does the vision conform to the religious expectations of the dying.

Research


Extensive research into these mysterious visions was carried out in the 1960s and 1970s by Dr. Karlis Osis of the American Society for Psychical Research. In this research, and for a book he published in 1977 titled At the Hour of Death, Osis considered thousands of case studies and interviewed more than 1,000 doctors, nurses and others who attended the dying. The work found a number of fascinating consistencies:

  • Although some dying people report seeing angels and other religious figures (and sometimes even mythical figures), the vast majority claim to see familiar people who had previously passed away.
  • Very often, the friends and relatives seen in these visions express directly that they have come to help take them away.
  • The dying person is reassured by the experience and expresses great happiness with the vision. Contrast this with the confusion or fear that a non-dying person would experience at seeing a "ghost." The dying also seem quite willing to go with these apparitions.
  • The dying person's mood - even state of health - seems to change. During these visions, a once depressed or pain-riddled person is overcome with elation and momentarily relieved of pain... until death strikes.
  • These experiencers do not seem to be hallucinating or to be in an altered state of consciousness; rather, they appear to be quite aware of their real surroundings and conditions.
  • Whether or not the dying person believes in an afterlife is irrelevant; the experience and reactions are the same.


Stories of the Dying


Father lies dying. The hospital is quiet. Visiting hours are over and the sun has long since set. Father has been sleeping off and on all day. His doctor says the end could come at any time. His wrinkled, sunken eyes open slowly. His breathing has been labored, but now it seems to ease and soften. His eyes track to a corner of the room where there is only a faded green vinyl chair. Father smiles.

"You're here," he whispers.

His daughter, determined to be with him in his final moments, takes his hand. "Yes, I'm here, dad," she says. But she knows he's not looking at her.

"No," father says, never taking his eyes off the corner of the room. "There. It's your uncle Jerome. I never thought I'd see him again."

The daughter glances to the corner, but of course sees nothing. Father seems coherent. In fact, she hasn't seen him so alert in days.

"Oh my!" Father's smile broadens. "And Lucille! And mother is with them! They- they say they have come to help me. They have come to take me with them. Can't you see them? They look so wonderful!"

The daughter wraps her father's hand in both of hers. She doesn't know what to think. Father closes his eyes again and the smile slowly fades from his lips. He releases one long, last breath... and is gone.

There are several stories such as the one above, of which I have picked out a select few for your reading.


Abraham Lincoln's Vision of Death


All of us are familiar with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. We can't escape elementary school without hearing how the "Great Emancipator" was gunned down at a theater by the unsavory John Booth. Though we are aware of this famous tragedy, how many of us know that Lincoln had a strange dream about his death several days before he was assassinated? This dream, as it was related to Lincoln's friend, Will Hill Lamon, is described as follows:

"There seemed to be a death-like stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs. I went from room to room...the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I passed along...I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered. There I met with a sickening surprise. Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse...'Who is dead in the White House?' I demanded of one of the soldiers. 'The President,' was the answer, 'he was killed by an assassin.' Then there came a loud burst of grief from the crowd, which awoke me from my dream. I slept no more that night; and although it was only a dream, I have been strangely annoyed by it ever since."

Did President Lincoln have a Deathbed Vision about his own assassination? Was this a warning or just a fluke?

A Mother's Deathbed Vision


My mother had been in and out of hospitals over the last year, near death at each admission. She was coherent and not delusional. She had congestive heart failure and lung and kidney cancer spread throughout her body. One morning in the hospital room, about 2 a.m. when all was quiet, my mother stared out the door of her room and into the hall that led to the nurse's station and the other patient's rooms. I said, "Momma, what do you see?" And she said, "Don't you see them? They walk the hall day and night. They are dead." She said this with quiet calmness. The revelation of this statement might send fear into some, but my mother and I had seen spiritual visions many years prior, so this statement was not a shock for me to hear, or for her to see. I, however, this time, I did not see them. This small conversation was not mentioned again.

Her surgeon said there was no point in treatment as the cancer had spread throughout her body. He said she might have six months to live, at the most; maybe three months. I brought her home to die. She passed four weeks later. The night of her (unexpected) passing, she was restless and anxious. Although my mother was a spiritual person, she had been in denial throughout her illness and declining health. She did not want to die, therefore she would not acknowledge the prognosis or her condition. She always talked as if she were going to get well and making plans of things to do in the coming Spring.

About 7:30 p.m. she asked to be carried out to the enclosed front porch. It was winter and cold. But, she insisted and by this time, I would not deny my mother any request. I wrapped her in blankets and made her as comfortable as possible. My mother was an invalid and could not support herself in anyway without help. A few minutes before 8 p.m. she said, "I have to go. They're here. They're waiting for me." Her face glowed and the color returned to her pale face as she attempted to raise herself and stand up. Her last words were, "I have to go. It is beautiful!" And she then passed at 8 p.m.

Several months later, the alarm of my alarm clock (set at 6 p.m.), which was broken and had no batteries in it, went off at 8 p.m. sharp. I could feel the presence of my mother and her amusement at achieving such a task and bringing it to my attention. A year and two months to the day of my mother's transformation, she appeared standing in my kitchen as whole, healthy and young. I was surprised, knowing she was dead, but so happy to see her. We embraced in a hug, and I said, "I love you." And then she was gone. She had come back to say a final good bye and letting me know in thought that she was happy and okay. I know my mother is finally home and at peace.
- Moon Sister

Finishing out the Week


Mom was almost 96. She suffered a broken hip in January, 1989 and went from hospital to nursing home. She just gave up. My mom was born in a small village in Poland, had little or no schooling, and came to this country with my dad when she was 17, not knowing a word of English. She lived all those years, owned her own home and had no fear of anyone or anything - a great spirit in a small lady. She was a woman who worked until she was 84 in a mattress factory, totally committed to doing her job, "finishing out the week," as she said.

This one Saturday I sat with her for a while, and suddenly those blue eyes of hers opened wide. She looked to a corner of her room, then to the ceiling. (She was legally blind.) She looked terribly startled at first, but as her eyes swept around the room, she put both hands under her chin and settled down. I swear I saw a light around her; the gray hair and pained facial expressions disappeared and she was beautiful. She closed her eyes. I wanted to ask her (in Polish) what she saw, but something stopped me. I just sat there and looked at her. It was approaching evening. I had told the people there that if my mother appeared to be dying to inform me. Well, I decided to leave. I bent over my mother and kissed her on the forehead. A voice within my head said very clearly, "This is the last time you will see your mother alive." But something made me leave. That night, as I was sleeping, I dreamt my mother was behind me, shaking me hard by the shoulders, trying to wake me. She finally did, and I woke to the phone ringing. It was the nursing home - midnight - telling me my mother had just passed away. I couldn't find it in my heart to scold them for not calling me earlier. She was gone. She died Saturday night... "finishing out the week." That was in 1989, and I have never forgotten those last moments.
- S.

Dad's Dying Vision


Back in 1979, I moved in with my dying father. One morning I was making him breakfast and he seemed very upset. I asked what was wrong. He said, "They came to get me last night," and pointed toward the ceiling. So, of course, stupid me, I asked, "Who?" He got extremely upset and yelled at me, pointing at the ceiling, "THEY! Came to get me!" I didn't say another thing, but watched him continuously. From that night on, he wouldn't sleep in his room. He always slept on the couch. I would put my children to bed then sit with him and watch TV. We would talk, and right in the middle of our conversation he'd look up, wave his hand and say, "Go away. No, not yet. I'm not ready."

This went on for three months before he died. My father and I were extremely close. He raised me by himself from the time I was born until he died. I've always been into the paranormal, so when he contacted me by automatic writing I wasn't surprised. He just wanted to say he was alright. One more thing. He died at 7 a.m. That night I was all alone in his home; my ex had our children. I lit a big candle, put it on the end table and lay down on the couch and cried myself to sleep. I felt so close to him there. The next morning when I awoke, the candle sat three feet away on the carpeted floor. By the look of the burn hole on the carpet right below the end table, the candle had fallen and started a fire. To this day I don't know how it was put out or how the candle got moved to the doorway between the living room and kitchen, but I suspect it was my dad. He saved my life that night and his home from burning up in a fire.
- Kuutala

Theories


Stories of deathbed visions are often ignored or shut out completely. Society doesn't see these visions as normal. As a result, dying individuals experiencing deathbed visions are often misdiagnosed, disregarded, ignored, heavily medicated or shut away. Unaware family members often have an extremely difficult time understanding why Dad is talking to Uncle Joe, because Uncle Joe has been dead for twenty years. Many health-care workers dismiss deathbed visions as hallucinations by telling family members things like, "Your father is delusional," or "He doesn't know what he is saying."

Theories that discount deathbed visions cite the possibilities that they are hallucinations induced by drugs, fever, disease, oxygen deprivation, wish fulfillment, and depersonalization. However, it has been noted that hallucinations arising from these factors generally concern the present and not the afterworld. Additionally, most of the recorded cases of deathbed visions have happened to patients who were not on drugs.

While we may never know whether these experiences are truly paranormal - that is, until we too pass from this life, there is one aspect of some deathbed visions that is most difficult to explain and lends most credence to the idea that they are actual visitations of spirits from "the other side." On rare occasions, the spirit entities are seen not only by the dying patient, but also by the friends, relatives and others in attendance.

As for the other possibilities, nothing can be determined accurately, due to the delicate nature of the subject. What little studies to happen regarding Deathbed Visions falls under the subject of Thanatology, the study of death.